A paraglider who had gone missing in the Lake District was airlifted to hospital after he was found with several injuries.
The man, who was staying in Grasmere went paragliding in the Heron Pike/Great Rigg/Fairfield area on Tuesday.
The last contact with him was at around 12.30pm when he said he was going to attempt to paraglide as far as he could back to Grasmere, but he was overdue and the alarm was raised by his partner.
An initial hasty search was organised, followed by a more prolonged and complex search involving mountain rescue teams, search dogs, and a Coastguard helicopter. This was unsuccessful, and ended around 2am yesterday, October 30.
A further search was planned and implemented at first light, involving team members from multiple other Lake District teams, and search dogs from the Lakes, England and Southern Scotland.
Keswick, Langdale Ambleside, Coniston, Penrith, Cockermouth, Patterdale, Killin and Kirkby Steven mountain rescue teams were all called out to help, as was the Great North Air Ambulance.
At 10.15am yesterday, the paraglider was located by team members. He was rapidly assessed and found to have a number of injuries.
After initial treatment a Coastguard helicopter was able to lift and transport him to hospital.
Keswick Mountain Rescue Team said: “Having thoroughly searched about half the area in low cloud and very poor visibility, a call was received to say the paraglider had been spotted high on the fellside by the Cockermouth team in a brief window in the mist.
“The man was given shelter and was treated by mountain rescue team members.
“The teams witnessed some very impressive low level flying from the Coastguard whose only option was to visually following the terrain, from a clear window in the cloud far below, up the ridge to the casualty site.
“The casualty was then lifted by the helicopter to a location from where he could be transferred to an air ambulance and flown to hospital.”
Cockermouth Mountain Rescue Team added: “We would like to extend our thanks to all the mountain rescue volunteers who came from around Cumbria, the search dogs, Coastguard helicopters and Cumbria police.”
